Luke Donald prepped for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a quiet, peaceful pro-am outing Wednesday morning with former Saints star Archie Manning. No muss, no fuss and few distractions for the player who has been the world’s top-ranked player for most of the past year.

Donald is currently No. 2 in the rankings, just slightly behind Rory McIlroy, who re-claimed the top spot two weeks ago without even playing that week. Donald has been No. 1 for 44 weeks and could easily move past McIlroy again this year. But it’s not something the England-born, American-educated golfer thinks about.

“I had a good run and I feel like I’m good enough to get back to No. 1,” Donald said. “I already did, my main focus is to always to come and compete and have a chance to win a tournament and give myself a chance, those other things kind of take care of themselves.”

Donald had an unbelievable 2011 season, winning Player of the Year honors on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. On the PGA Tour he won twice, finished second twice, third twice and had 14 top 10s and 16 top 25s in just 19 starts.

He’s had more up an up-and-down 2012. The high was a victory in the Transitions on March 18, which came on the heels of a tie for sixth at the WGC-Cadillac Championship. But in his other four events he hasn’t finished better than a tie for 32nd at the Masters.

“The things that I have been doing great the last few years - wedge work, short game, putting – they just haven’t been quite as sharp this year,” Donald said. “Not that I’m not putting in the effort this is just sort of what happens some times. I’m not too worried. Obviously, it’s not far away. I won at Transitions. I had everything come together pretty well that week. And you know, working hard to try back to the consistent level to where I was last year.”

Donald scored one of his top 10 finishes at last year’s Zurich Classic, coming in tied for eighth. He will tee off at 12:30 p.m. today from the first tee with Keegan Bradley and K.J. Choi and begin his attempt to contend again and if happens, re-claim the top ranking.

“This is a tricky course, Bermuda around the greens, you’ve got to have great technique to hit good shots around here,” Donald said. “We’ve been working hard on my technique and hopefully it pays off this week.”